Soil health & plant nutrition

A farming system in which inadequate nutrients limit crop/pasture productivity, microbial activity and maintenance of SOM clearly requires a paradigm shift.

Livestock manures can be a cost effective alternative to inorganic fertilisers but must be applied at rates which counter growth limiting nutrients.

Historically soil health mostly meant how much organic matter is in soil. But organic matter changes slowly. Microbes change fast.

Soil health (regenerative agriculture) initiatives must credibly delineate grain yield, grain quality and across farm ecosystem functions outcomes from what is currently being achieved with science based conservation agriculture.

In a US comparison after 12 years applying organic or inorganic fertiliser to a continuous crop rotation manure is the fertiliser that supports better soil quality by improving almost all soil properties.

For pasture enthusiasts fairy rings present an insight into the power of soil biology to influence pasture plant growth.

Study of the mostly microscopic soil food web has been going on for decades but is now attracting more interest from researchers looking for environmentally benign methods to improve agriculture.

Vigorous pastures species managed for resilience to variable rainfall will be able to accommodate a range of insects such as Yellowheaded cockchafer larvae, field crickets and red legged earth mites. They become part of the soil food web rather than a problem.

Comment by Patrick Francis. I am continually challenged by how conventional agricultural science has simplified phosphorus fertiliser applications for maintaining or increasing plant production in an incredibly complex soil medium where interactions are only partly understood.

New maps detailing the water use efficiency (WUE) of wheat crops across Australia reflect the comprehensive practice changes that have taken place in the grains industry,

By Cindy Benjamin Together the pig and poultry industries produce more organic by-product than beef feedlotting in Australia. The composition

By Cindy Benjamin There has been an explosion in the amount of composted animal manure being spread on cropping and

US data is demonstrating that soil organic matter mineralisation plus biomass respiration can contribute significant amounts of plant available nutrients

In chapter two of the Soil Biology Primer released on the web by the USDA, Dr Elaine Ingham reviews the

Farm consultant Ken Sharpe has been researching the impacts of soil organic matter  (SOM) on cereal yields for the past

The Soil Biology Primer was published in the US in 2000 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society. It was subsequently made

What soil biology tests say about mycorrhizal fungi colonization  Microbiological tests are becoming a more common tool used by farmers

Mycorrhizal fungi contribute to more cost efficient, lower risk farming In the second article in the series about mycorrhizal fungi

Healthier cropping soils support natural N source By Patrick Francis One of the benefits associated with higher soil organic matter

Mycorrhizae fungi awareness emerging in new soil health paradigm Microbiological health of soil has emerged over the last decade as